


Mission: First Date

by BoxOfHammers



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-17 06:39:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16511210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoxOfHammers/pseuds/BoxOfHammers
Summary: The day of Natasha and Maria's first date.It's set when Maria is working at Stark.One shot.





	Mission: First Date

“How is this my fault?” Clint asked patiently from underneath the tractor. “Pass me the ratchet will ya?”

Natasha passed him the ratchet. “You’re the one who said I should go for it!” she said indignantly, raising her voice over the loud scritch-click sound of the ratchet.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby!”

“I’m not being a baby!”

“Go ask the kids. They’ll tell ya.” He rolled out from under the big machine, greasy but happier than she’d seen him in a while. “So, she said no. Boohoo.”

“She didn’t say no.”

“What?” he asked incredulously, a hand behind one ear, bending toward her.

“She didn’t say no,” Natasha repeated.

“Then why are you here busting my balls?” her put upon friend wanted to know.

Natasha sighed.

“You dope. Have you not ever been on a date before?” he asked gently, pulling her into an embrace. Sometimes he forgot how messed up her life had been, hoping everyone’s had been better than his. He felt her shake her head. He kissed the top of it. “OK. Well you need girl help. You want to go up to the house and talk to Laura?” Natasha’s head nodded. “OK.”

 

“I did wonder when he told me, the idiot,” Laura said fondly as she ran her hand through Natasha’s hair like she would with one of her kids.

“Not his fault,” her friend conceded. “He likes to think about the future. Not the past.”

Laura smiled. “You don’t have to defend him here.”

Natasha hugged her. “I know. Habit.”

“Now, Maria Hill? When you go, you go big!”

“Well, yeah!” Natasha said, some of her natural confidence reappearing.

“I don’t know her very well. Tell me about her?”

“She’s hot!” Natasha said quickly then “Ow!” as Laura slapped the back of her head.

“Tell me what she’s like. Like you’re talking to me, not Tony Stark.”

“OK. Geez. She’s smart. And serious. But funny too. Like how serious she is makes laughter even more precious to her? People trust her. Not just with the big stuff like saving the world but with their confidences and their fears and hopes. She has sharp edges, but she’s honed them herself. So, she understands them. She knows what she’s capable of. She’s really smart….” Nat’s voice drifted off as she thought of the woman who was the sudden object of her affection.

“I can see you put a lot of thought into this. I think you’ll do just fine,” Laura affirmed. “Just be yourself. And go see Pepper. She knows Maria pretty well. And she’ll know exactly where to go and what to wear.”

The Black Widow, assassin, Avenger, spy moaned at the growing complexity of her mission.

 

“You can’t treat it like a mission,” Pepper shot down that idea right away.

“Why not? Objective. Process. Outcome.”

“Because she’ll know what you’re doing and she’ll be offended. She’s not an invading alien force, Natasha. She’s a fantastic woman who has been a good friend to you.”

“Well, what then?” Natasha asked petulantly.

“Now you sound like Tony!” Pepper chastised her gently.

“Rude!” Natasha frowned. “Laura said something similar. Oh god I’m one of the guys!”

Pepper laughed. “You do go AWOL, sister, but I think you’re redeemable. Anyway. The date.  Where are you guys going?” Natasha groaned. “OK. Let’s assume dinner. What food do you like? I mean, what’s your favourite?”

“Thai,” Natasha said instantly. “Oh god I don’t even know what she likes to eat outside rations and the mess.”

“She likes Thai,” Pepper assured her. “Why don’t you go down and see her?”

“Now?”

“Sure. Just check in and see when she can meet you tonight.”

“Check in?”

“Natasha Romanoff! Pull yourself together and march yourself down there,” Pepper demanded sternly.

“Yes ma’am,” Natasha replied, obeying.

 

Maria looked up from her work at the tap on her door. She smiled broadly. “I just had the strangest conversation with my boss.”

“Oh?”

“Mmmm. She said I was to call her back if I didn’t get a visitor in five minutes.”

“Huh. Crazy.”

Maria studied her fondly. “Hey,” she said.

Natasha felt herself relax. “Hi. I thought we might go out and have some Thai tonight?”

“Sure. 8?”

“Great. See you then,” Natasha said and started heading back up the hallway.

“Nat?” Maria called.

Natasha hurried back to Maria’s doorway. “Yup?”

“Where?”

Natasha looked startled. She held up one finger in a plea for patience then ran to Pepper’s office at a sprint. “Where?” she blurted ignoring the small nest of Avengers Pepper sat amongst.

“Thaiphoon,” Pepper supplied. “Not too fancy but fancy enough.”

Natasha ran back to Maria. “Thaiphoon.”

“Yum,” Maria said. “You picking me up?”

“Uh. Sure. Here?”

“Sounds good. You OK?” Natasha was gripping the door frame staring at her.

“Uh. First real date. So. Nervous?”

That focused Maria’s attention totally. Natasha had seen that look before just not directed at her. Maria rose and moved to the door, drawing Natasha inside the room and closing the door in one smooth motion. She kept hold of Nat’s hand and walked her to the comfortable chairs near the window.

“Hey,” Maria said. “It’s me. And I want to spend some time with you. I like you. And you’re hot,” she added with a grin tugging at her lips.

“I got into trouble for saying that about you.”

“Well it must have been the context. What worries you the most?”

“What do I do?” Natasha asked.

Maria sat back. “Do you remember that first meal we had in the mess when we talked?” Natasha nodded. “That’s what you do. Talk and eat. Except this time you also tell me I look pretty. You can lay that on as thick as you want.”

“Oh. OK. I think I can handle that.”

“Good. Pepper taking you clothes shopping too?”

“No. She’s sending me with the boys actually.”

“Really? Tony, Steve, and Clint?” Natasha nodded. “She is a clever woman. Someone who wants you, someone who respects you, and someone who loves you. I can’t wait to see! Now go play with your idiot brothers. I have work to do.”

 

The group of Avengers were very quiet on the way out of Pepper’s office. As the lift started descending Clint said “Hey, Tash? What happened to that greenish dress you bought but never wore to that stupid party?”

Natasha thought for a moment then kissed him loudly on the cheek. “Barton you are a genius!” Stark snorted. “No, look! I can totally wear that! You’re all off the hook!”

“Natasha. There is no way in hell I’m going back up there and telling Pepper that we didn’t go shopping.”

“Me either,” said Steve.

“OK,” Barton allowed. “It was just an idea.”

“Well stop it,” Stark snarked. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

“Asshat,” Barton shot back.

“Fellas,” Captain America warned before turning to Natasha and offering her his arm. “Let’s go shopping.”

 

Clint took in his surroundings finding it hard to believe he was actually in a store. “This reminds me of that high-end bordello in Barcelona?” he whispered to Natasha.

Natasha giggled. “Oh my god. You’re right!”

“Mmmm. Classe Alte. What a place!” Tony mused lost in a memory.

 

The middle-aged woman who appeared from behind a curtain did nothing to dispel the image. While the other three turned away pretending to take in their surroundings to cover their giggles, Steve extended his charm and his right hand towards her.

 

“Ma’am,” he greeted. “We’re here to…”

 

But the woman shook his hand and moved on to study Natasha like she was a puzzling work of abstract art. “Turn,” she demanded.

Natasha flinched at the tone (as did Tony and Clint) but did as she was bidden. More silent inspection ensued. If this woman recognised them, she did not show it.

 

“Potts has sent you. She is correct you are exquisite. What are these for?” she added indicating Natasha should explain the men.

Natasha didn’t know what to say. She was beginning to worry that spending time with this woman was going to trigger flashbacks for her.

“I think Pepper’s idea,” Tony weighed in to the rescue, “is that I make sure it’s sexy enough, Steve makes sure it isn’t too sexy, and Clint is the one to remember that Natasha has to like it.”

“Like the three wise men but instead three oversized idiot boys,” Natasha said in Russian.

The saleswoman blinked. Then laughed. “You!” she said, pointing at Tony. “More like Potts’ blue dress last summer or the red – you know the one.”

Tony looked dreamy for a moment. “Start with the blue idea with a pinch of the red. We don’t want to kill Hill on the first date!”

The woman nodded. “Sit,” she demanded indicating a row of plush chairs. “We will collect and bring.”

“Not feeling any less bordello-y in here,” Clint murmured setting Natasha off again.

 

Finally, the woman reappeared with two younger women pushing two racks of dresses.

 

“I am not trying all of those on,” Natasha said.

“That’s our cue Cap,” Tony said slapping Steve’s thigh. He stood and went to the first rack.

 

Tony began picking out dresses and draping them over Steve’s arm. Some Steve would leave there. Some he would hang back up on the rack. Finished with the first rack, Tony sent Steve to Clint. Clint and Natasha separated out two dresses and sent Steve to rehang the others. Tony meanwhile had almost finished the second rack. Steve again returned some of Tony’s choices to the rack and both men brought the remaining dresses over for their approval.

 

“You guys are surprisingly good at this,” Natasha said looking at her four choices.

“We spend a lot of time with women,” Steve reminded her. “Well, they do. I just have great taste.”

“Go try ‘em on, Tash,” Clint encouraged her. Then added in a voice full of dramatic dread indicating the curtain “If you dare!”

 

Whether it was their fear of Pepper or of the weird atmosphere or whether they’d all just had enough, a consensus was reached quickly, and Tony paid for the dress and shoes while Natasha changed back into her street clothes.

 

“Thanks fellas,” Natasha said, genuinely touched by their willingness to help and their prolonged lack of assholery about it.

Steve slapped his huge hands together. “Lunch!” he shouted and headed off down the street.

 

“You gonna keep eating until you don’t fit into that dress?” Clint wanted to know as Natasha reached for more bread. “Because even for you that’s some troubling self-sabotage.”

“You’re nervous!” Tony observed in that smug tone that should make everyone loathe him but somehow did not.

“Oh, like you wouldn’t have been if she’d ever said yes to any of your idiot come-ons,” Clint scoffed.

Natasha choked at that and Steve helpfully patted her back until she recovered. She glared at Stark.

“What?” he asked.

“You dated Maria?” Natasha sputtered.

“No. As Low Rent Robin Hood here points out she turned me down every time.”

“But you tried?” Natasha pressed.

“Who wouldn’t?” Stark responded, truly puzzled. Then he sat up a little straighter and scrutinised his colleague. “Natasha Romanoff! You’re in love!”

“Shut up,” Natasha responded.

“Stark,” Steve and Clint both said warningly.

“But she is!” Tony exclaimed. “Look at her! This is great. Love’s great! Does she know?” he added in a whisper like Hill might be in the vicinity.

Natasha let out a frustrated huff of breath and shrugged.

“She will when she sees that dress,” Steve said nudging the box with his toe.

Natasha’s eyes went wide. “It’s too much isn’t it? I knew it! I should never have...”

“Tash,” Clint said, kicking her under the table. “Breathe.”

Natasha fell silent.

Suddenly Steve grinned and rose from the table. “I’ve got something to do,” he said and left abruptly.

“That guy is wound up,” Tony remarked. “Now. Natasha. Never been in love before?”

Natasha rolled her eyes. This was going to be a long afternoon.

 

Maria Hill was trying to concentrate on her work and not think about what kind of dress Natasha’s Avenger bros would talk her into. A knock at her door made her look up from her screen.

“Got a minute Commander?” Steve asked.

“Sure,” Maria was puzzled but also grateful for the interruption. “You can call me by my name, you know.”

The huge shoulders moved in a shy, boyish shrug. He smiled, and she was, as always, taken aback by the transformation that wrought on his usually stern countenance. “Maria,” he said, trying it out and nodding to himself as if proud he got it right. He sat in one of the visitors’ chairs and leant his elbows on his knees, rubbing his hands together slowly as he thought.

“What’s up?” Maria asked, beginning to be concerned.

“I’ve come to ask about your intentions,” Steve said, having decided on his path.

Maria Hill had a pretty good poker face but there were limits. “My ... what now?” she stammered.

“Your intentions. Towards Natasha,” he clarified. Well, he thought he was clarifying but Maria’s face seemed to suggest otherwise. “You’re going to date her,” he explained. “She doesn’t have any family but us. You of all people know how her life has been. She has some ... some real feelings for you, Maria. And I feel like ... I don’t want her hurt, you see?” Maria was still looking at him as if she were stunned. “Maybe this isn’t how this is done anymore,” he said as if to himself.

“Cap,” Maria said quietly after a moment to recover from realising this was like the 1940s version of the shovel talk. She waited for him to look her in the eye before continuing. “I have no intention of hurting her,” she said sincerely. “I’m,” she paused searching for the words. “I’m all in,” she said finally.

He grinned his blinding grin, stood and moved around the desk to kiss her head before departing without another word.

By the time Maria got to her door he was nowhere in sight. She imagined him joyfully leaping down flights of stairs. Maria proceeded to Pepper’s office.

“Hey?” Pepper greeted her taking in the look on Maria’s face that she couldn’t quite place.

“Hey,” Maria responded, plonking down in a chair. “So Steve just came to talk to me about my intentions.”

“Your what now?”

Maria laughed. “That’s what I said. My intentions towards Natasha.”

“That big, adorable, hot idiot,” Pepper said fondly. “What did you say?”

“That’s the thing,” Maria said, frowning thoughtfully. “I told him I was all in.”

Pepper’s eyebrows rose. “And are you?”

“Well, yeah. It’s just I ...” Maria paused not really knowing where to go from there.

“You just realised?” Pepper asked helpfully.

“Yes!” Maria pointed at her boss forcefully. “Exactly.”

“So, this date is getting kind of heavy now I guess?”

“Oh,” Maria said in a small voice.

“No, it’s good!” Pepper assured her. “It’ll be great. Love is great.”

“Love,” Maria said like she was trying it out to see if it fit.

“Sure,” Pepper nodded.

Maria sighed. This was going to be a very long afternoon.  

 


End file.
